The present invention relates generally to a support for a sign.
In a manner known per se, signs can be paper signs or electronic signs whose use is widespread at present in stores, particularly in supermarkets.
An electronic sign is present in the form of a housing, generally rectangular parallelepipedal, fairly flat, on the front surface of which is disposed a display element, for example a liquid crystal display screen. The display is controlled by a microprocessor, for example remotely controlled by the central computer of the store.
There is known from the international application published under No. WO 98/58360, such an electronic sign and a rail permitting the position of the latter on the front edge of shelves of display units on which are disposed products offered for sale.
The sign and the rail comprise means ensuring emplacement of the sign by snapping into the rail which are such that although it is easy to emplace the sign in the rail, it is impossible to move said sign along the rail or to remove it from said rail without a suitable tool.
Known supports are usually of a width suitable for their positioning on the edge of the most usual shelves, which is to say shelves whose edge has a thickness of the order of 3 to 4 centimeters.
Such a sign support is for example described in international application published under No. WO 93/19448 filed by HL Display. This support is comprised by a rear portion adapted to be fixed to a shelf and a front portion adapted to receive at least one sign, said front and rear portions being connected by a flexible hinge. A tongue connected to one of the front and rear portions by another flexible hinge and carrying at least one snap-in means, and supplemental means carried by the back of the front portion or by the front surface of the rear portion, permit adjusting the inclination of the front portion relative to the rear portion. Such an adjustment permits rendering more easy the reading of signs positioned on shelves at a great or small height, especially when the sign is an electronic sign because the display screens are not easily readable unless disposed in a plane substantially perpendicular to the axis of reading.
The support disclosed in international application of HL Display nevertheless has several drawbacks. First of all, it is expensive to produce because it requires the use of a complex procedure to permit the formation of the two flexible hinges and means for adjusting the inclination. Moreover, if it permits inclining the sign upwardly so as to facilitate the reading of signs positioned in front of shelves located at a low height, the support does not permit inclining the sign downwardly to facilitate reading of the signs disposed at a greater height.
Moreover, because the adjustment means of the inclination are located between the front and rear portions, and hence hidden by the front portion, the snap-in operation or the snap-in means of the tongue in the supplemental means is carried out blind and hence is inconvenient. Finally, it can happen that a client withdrawing a product from a shelf knocks the bottom of the back of the front portion of the sign support installed on the shelf immediately above and causes the snap-in means to unsnap from the tongue relative to the supplemental means, thereby destroying the adjustment of the inclination which can be re-established only by manual intervention.
There exists at present a tendency to use shelves whose edge is much less thick, for example shelves of bent sheet metal, whose edge has a thickness of 25 mm, or glass plates on which are to be positioned supports of suitable sizes.
Such shelves with a narrow edge have the advantage of permitting an increase in the height available between shelves to offer for sale products of the greatest height without changing the interval of vertical spacing of the shelves, or permitting, at the same heights for the products offered for sale, a decrease in the vertical interval of spacing of the shelves and adding at least one supplemental upper shelf. In the second case, the need to have available shelf supports which, when they are installed on upper shelves, permit inclining the signs downwardly to facilitate reading, is even greater. Moreover, with shelves with a narrow edge, the sign supports project more downwardly below the shelves. As a result, the risks that the front portion of the sign support will be knocked from behind when a client withdraws a product from a shelf, and hence the risk of destruction of the adjustment of the inclination of the sign or of the signs carried by the knocked support, are greater.
The object of the present invention is thus to provide a sign support for products presented on shelves with a narrow edge, which will be simple to make, and hence less costly, with the help of which the sign can be presented at different inclinations both upward and downward, and with which, in the case of knocking from behind the front portion of the sign support, said front portion will then automatically return to the vertical or inclined upwardly or downwardly position which it initially had.
To this end, the invention provides a sign support comprising a rear portion adapted to be fixed to a shelf with a narrow edge and a front part adapted to receive a sign and connected to the rear part by a flexible hinge located in an upper region of said front and rear parts, and means for adjusting the inclination of the front part relative to the rear part, characterized in that said adjustment means comprise a first abutment element, which is connected in a single piece with a first breakable connection to one of said front and rear parts and which defines with the latter a trough whose free edge constitutes a first abutment against or with which said front portion bears by gravity on the rear portion to define a first position, substantially vertical, of the front portion relative to the rear portion, said first abutment element being adapted to be removed by sectioning or rupturing of the first breakable connection to define a second position of the front portion in which the latter bears by gravity against the rear portion while adopting a downwardly inclination.
The support according to the invention is further remarkable in that:
the rear portion comprises a vertical tongue adapted to be positioned in front of the edge of the shelf and the first abutment element is connected by the first breakable connection to the lower end of the vertical tongue of the rear portion,
the first abutment element in the form of a trough has, on the side of the free edge of the trough, a substantially horizontal edge against or with which said front portion bears to define said first position,
said edge is connected to said trough by a second breakable connection and can be removed by sectioning or rupture of said second breakable connection to define a third position, intermediate between said first and second positions, of said front portion,
said adjustment means comprise moreover a second abutment element comprising two branches forming an angle between them, of which one of the branches is adapted to be inserted and resiliently gripped in the trough formed by the first abutment element, and whose other branch has a length such that it is adapted to extend beyond the free edge of the trough, in the direction of the other of said front and rear portions, and to constitute a second abutment to define a fourth position of the front portion in which the latter bears by gravity on the rear portion, against or with the second abutment, while adopting an upward inclination,
the two branches of the second abutment element make an angle such that said other branch extends substantially perpendicularly to the other of said front and rear portions when said front portion is in the fourth position,
the branches of the second abutment element are of different lengths, such that it is possible to give to said front portion two orientations, upward, by insertion of one or the other branch of the first or second abutment element into the trough,
at least one of the two branches of the second abutment element comprises a line of weakening such that the length of the branch comprising the line of weakening can be shortened by bending said branch along the line of weakening or by removal of an external portion of said branch by sectioning or rupture along the line of weakening, to decrease the inclination of the front portion upwardly,
the vertical tongue comprises at least one opening in which can be emplaced an attachment for the securement of the support with an edge directed vertically downwardly of a shelf of bent sheet metal,
when the support is to be positioned in front of a shelf whose vertical edge is bent so as to provide a groove having a C cross-section, said attachment comprises a head connected by a short rod to a cam having a symmetrical contour relative to the axis of the rod, such that, in a first angular position of the cam, the latter is adapted to be engaged in said groove with a C section and, in a second angular position of the cam, obtained by rotating said cam about 90xc2x0, the latter is wedged in said groove with a C cross-section,
the cam has a contour which has two large surfaces parallel to each other and connected to each other, at each of their ends by a series of facets whose distance relative to the axis of the rod increases from one large side to the other large side of said contour,
said attachment is monobloc, said opening is rectangular with its large sides disposed horizontally, and the attachment head has a rectangular contour whose large sides have a length smaller than that of the large sides of said rectangular opening and larger than that of the small sides of said rectangular opening and whose small sides have a length less than that of the small sides of the rectangular opening,
said attachment is in two parts adapted to be assembled permanently to each other, after passage of the rod of the attachment through the opening of the vertical tongue and of said rear portion, by snapping in said rod, which is secured to one of the two portions of the attachment, into the other of the two portions of the attachment,
the, head of the attachment has a contour of larger size than that of the opening of the vertical tongue of said rear portion,
the rear portion comprises a horizontal tongue adapted to be positioned on top of the shelf,
a portion of said horizontal tongue is detachable along a breakable connection,
the rear portion of the support comprises two horizontal tongues constituting with an upper portion of the vertical tongue a securement clamp adapted to be forcibly placed astride the edge of the shelf,
the two horizontal tongues of the rear portion have, on their mutually facing surfaces, anti-slip formations and/or cladding preventing movement of said gripper toward the front of a shelf,
the front and rear portions of the support are constituted by a profile co-extruded with the flexible hinge and sectioned to a desired length,
the front portion has the shape of a segment of a rail overall constituted by a bottom and two upper and lower wings perpendicular to said bottom and constituting hooking and retention means for at least one electronic sign.